contractors

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Don't Get More Than Seasick
Don't Get More Than Seasick
Jan 20, 2008 11:33 AM CST

Don't Get More Than Seasick

Cruise ships provide docs, but aren't responsible for them

(Newser) - If you're one of the 10 million or so Americans who take a cruise this year, make sure you understand that “all-inclusive” doesn’t apply to medical care, says ABC News. Cruise ships have doctors on board, but the operator won’t take responsibility for them. Cruise lines, says...

Battle Over War Funds Escalates
 Battle Over War Funds Escalates
Nov 30, 2007 3:50 AM CST

Battle Over War Funds Escalates

President warns of Christmas layoffs

(Newser) - The dispute between the White House and Congress over $196 billion in funding for the war in Iraq escalated as President Bush warned of imminent layoffs, the Washington Post reports. "The missions of this department are too important to be disrupted or delayed," Bush said after a series...

Audits Rip Fed Oversight of Security Firms, Costs

Lax controls, slopping accounting

(Newser) - A State Department internal review of its own security practices in Iraq is sharply critical of the lack of oversight of private contractors Blackwater, DynCorp International and Triple Canopy. A second report due today says officials can't say what the government got for $1.2B paid to DynCorp since 2004,...

How Blackwater Came to Be
How Blackwater Came to Be
Oct 13, 2007 1:49 PM CDT

How Blackwater Came to Be

(Newser) - Erik Prince, the politically savvy CEO of Blackwater USA, took advantage of a confluence of events—a rise in terrorism coupled with military cutbacks and an administration committed to outsourcing—to create one of the fastest-growing US contractors of the past decade. The Washington Post investigates the extraordinary rise of...

Iraqis Bring US Lawsuit Against Blackwater

Shooting victims accuse security firm of promoting 'lawlessness'

(Newser) - Saying the security firm committed "extrajudicial killings and war crimes" in a Baghdad firefight, one injured man and the relatives of three other Iraqis killed last month are suing Blackwater in US federal court. An advocacy group filed the suit today, Reuters reports, seeking compensatory and punitive damages while...

US Ignored Blackwater Warnings
US Ignored Blackwater Warnings
Oct 7, 2007 8:02 PM CDT

US Ignored Blackwater Warnings

Immunity for guards was 'a bomb that could go off at any time'

(Newser) - The White House ignored signals about Blackwater and other private mercs for years, rejecting the idea that they were "a bomb that could go off at any time," the Los Angeles Times reports. One official says that contract guards blatantly smashed property and scared Iraqis, then argued that...

Blackwater Blamed for Fallujah Bloodshed

Murder of unprepared patrol sparked battle

(Newser) - Blackwater, the private security firm under investigation for a dozen civilian deaths in Iraq last week, is now being faulted for actions that led to a 2004 battle in which 36 US soldiers and 600 civilians were killed.  Blackwater is charged with sending a disorganized, unprepared four-man team into...

US-Iraqi Panel to Probe Private Contractors

Private military contractors get second look following the Blackwater USA incident

(Newser) - In the wake of the shooting deaths of 10 Iraqi civilians at the hands of private security firm Blackwater last weekend, the US and Iraq are forming a joint panel to probe the war's private security contractors. Rather than conduct forensic field studies of the incident, officials say, the committee...

Blackwater Ban Puts US Military in a Bind

With a rep for brutality, the security firm has enjoyed 'carte blanche'

(Newser) - The Iraqi crackdown on Blackwater, the private security firm implicated in Sunday’s killing of 8 civilians in Baghdad, draws attention to the lack of control the US military exerts over the 20,000 contractors who work for them in the country.  Blackwater guards are the most feared of...

Contractor Armies Thrive in Iraq
Contractor Armies Thrive in Iraq
Jul 18, 2007 5:49 AM CDT

Contractor Armies Thrive in Iraq

180,000 civilians working in legal limbo

(Newser) - A private army of occupation in Iraq—mechanics, construction workers, translators, bodyguards, and other civilian contractors—is increasing in numbers keeping pace with the troop surge, the Christian Science Monitor reports. As many as 180,000 private contractors in Iraq, most of them not US nationals, currently work in legal...

Corporate Donors Snub McCain
Corporate Donors Snub McCain
Jun 18, 2007 5:49 AM CDT

Corporate Donors Snub McCain

It's payback time for a career as Senate ethics reformer

(Newser) - John McCain is lagging far behind his GOP primary rivals in fundraising, in part because he's alienated so many big corporate donors in his Senate career. All that straight talk about minimizing the influence of money on politics has taken its toll, the New York Times notes. One defense industry...

US Intelligence In Private Hands
US Intelligence In Private Hands
May 31, 2007 8:00 AM CDT

US Intelligence In Private Hands

Billions a year spent on private intel contracts—but where's the money going?

(Newser) - Since 9/11, the US government has been upping spending on private intelligence contractors, doling out cash that is often classified and impossible to trace, Salon reports. 70% of all classified intelligence spending goes into private hands, making waste and corruption serious concerns.

Contractors in Iraq Trigger Two Shootings

Two incidents ignited by Blackwater raise questions about quasi-miliary role

(Newser) - Contractors from private security firm Blackwater USA set off two firefights in Baghdad in as many days last week. On Thursday, a Blackwater guard shot and killed an Iraqi driver who trailed a convoy suspiciously, and Wednesday a Blackwater convoy escorting State Department officials was ambushed—sparking a battle between...

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